Was That a Date?
by ArtistKurai
Summary: After the disastrous date with Shittaka, Akira takes Nobuta to play catch then out to eat. He can't help but wonder if it was a date. Lots of fluff. Dramaverse.


A/N: This story takes place during episode four of the drama after Akira and Nobuta take the old man to the hospital.

Disclaimer: I don't own Nobuta wo Produce, or any of its characters. *sigh* But one can dream...

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The two classmates stood in the park, casually throwing the baseball back and forth as the setting sun bathed them in a golden glow. Though she had never played catch before, Kotani Nobuko found that it wasn't difficult at all. It did help, though, that her partner was throwing her easy-to-catch pitches. 

'But that's okay,' thought Nobuko. 'One day, I'll be able to catch harder pitches.' 

"Ne," the voice of Kusano Akira broke through her thoughts. "You want to go get something to eat? It's getting late." Looking at the pink and orange sky proved Akira's words to be true, and just before she could speak, Nobuko's growling stomach answered for her. Slightly embarrassed, she nodded jerkily and walked over to the giggling Akira to give him her glove. "Nobuta's hungry," the boy said in a childish, sing-song voice. "Akira hungry too!" 

With eyes still downcast, Nobuko let herself be led away by a giggling and babbling Akira. "Let's go get food," he said in his high pitched voice. "Let's go get food!" 

As they walked through the city, Nobuko realized Akira was taking her to the same restaurant where they and Kiritani Shuji would frequently eat while on a shopping trip. The shy girl felt a tug on the corner of her mouth, but it was gone in an instant. 

"Is here okay?" asked Akira. Nobuko nodded again. "Good. I really only chose here because it was close and we both like it." 

"He-here is f-fine," stammered Nobuko. "I l-like this place." With a satisfied grin, Akira ordered for the two of them. 

"Today's my treat," he offered, dropping a hand on her shoulder. "After this afternoon, I figure you'd like to be treated to dinner." She didn't say anything, but Nobuko was touched by Akira's sweet offer. 

While the earlier part of the day had been somewhat fun, albeit a bit overwhelming, the latter part wasn't something she wanted to think about for a while. 

'Shittaka was nice,' Nobuko mused while she and her friend waited for their food, 'but I don't like him the way he likes me. Not only that, he said disgusting...' Her musings were suddenly interrupted by a finger jabbing her shoulder. 

"Our food's here," said Akira, again in his high pitched voice. "Come, Nobuta. Come, come." As they sat and ate, and Akira talked about random things, Nobuko realized that what she and the boy across from her were doing now was similar to the date she'd had earlier with Shittaka. 

'We did something fun together, and now we're eating dinner... which he bought for me...' 

"So, aside from the incident at the aquarium, how did Nobuta enjoy her first date?" asked Akira. 

"It was kinda fun," said Nobuko slowly, "but it was a bit too overwhelming for a first date." 

Akira tilted his head. "How was it overwhelming?" 

"Running around the mall, trying to keep up... It wasn't the same as when the three of us go together." Nobyko shyly looked up to quickly glance at Akira before dropping her gaze back to her lap. "I-it's easier to keep up with the two of you than the three of them today." 

As Akira took all of this in, Nobuko began speaking again. "It's more... r-relaxed when the th-three of us go shopping t-together. I-I don't have to i-impress you guys. I'm just me." 

A soft smile tugged at Akira's lips. "You know, Nobuta, that's why Shuji and I like you so much." The shy girl in front of him looked up at him slowly. "You're refreshingly honest. Even though we're producing you to be popular, it's mainly so your true self can be seen by others." 

"B-but, he d-doesn't seem l-like he does," mumbled Nobuko. "H-he's so adamant about changing me." 

"Not changing, producing," corrected Akira. "We're not trying to change you, we're taking what's already there and bringing it out in the open." Nobuko didn't say or do anything in response. "Nobuta is Nobuta, and Shuji and I know you as Nobuta. But everyone else only sees Kotani Nobuko. We want everyone else to be able to see Nobuta as well." 

"So why'd you get me the new clothes?" asked Nobuko, fingering the thick material of her jacket. 

"Do you like the clothes you're wearing?" asked Akira. Slowly, Nobuko nodded her head. "Do you like the other clothes we bought you?" Again, she nodded her head. "There you go, then. We didn't change your likes by buying you these new clothes. You can still wear your old green jacket and gray pants, but now you also have these nice clothes that you like." 

"I n-never th-th-thought about it that way," Nobuko whispered softly. Akira silently winked and pointed his finger pistols at her, not actually caring if she saw him do it or not. 

Once they had finished eating, the pair of companions left the diner to go back home. Upon reaching the point where they parted ways, Akira turned to Nobuko. "Do you want me to walk you home?" he offered. "Since it's dark and all." 

"I-I'll be okay," said Nobuko. "It's not much farther to my house." 

"Yosh," Akira conceded. "Well then, do you have a phone?" Nobuko indicated that she did. "Call me when you get there so I know that you got there safely." Nobuko agreed, and Akira wrote his phone number on a page of her Nobuta planner. "There. Now you can call me when you get home safely." 

Nobuko nodded again and looked down at the phone number written messily in her planner. "Today was fun," she thought to herself. 

"Mm?" hummed Akira. He heard her mumbling, but he couldn't understand what she had said. 

"T-today was fun," Nobuko repeated. 

"Yeah," agreed Akira with a smile, "today was fun." He silently looked Nobuko up and down, taking in her pretty features. "I'll see you at school tomorrow." 

"S-see you tomorrow." After that final parting, the two went their separate ways. Unbeknownst to Akira, Nobuko was musing on what she had told Akira only moments ago. 

She had truly meant it when she told Akira that she'd had fun, and she realized that that was what Shuji had instructed her to say after her date with Shittaka. 

"So... was that a... date?" 

The next day, as if by some unspoken agreement of silence, neither Akira nor Nobuta mentioned the time they shared the previous night. It wasn't that they didn't want to talk about it; they just felt that it wasn't necessary. 

But when they got to school and saw all the slanderous flyers about Nobuko and Shittaka, it hurt Akira's heart. 'Why would anyone do this?' thought Akira as he stared at the multicolored flyers covering the walls. "I hate stuff like this!" he growled as he began ripping pieces of paper off the wall. 'Nobody's allowed to hurt Nobuta!" 

Thinking back to the night before made Akira even angrier at whoever had done this to his friend. 'She's such a wonderful person,' he thought. Images of them playing catch played in his mind. 'Her innocence...' Scenes from eating supper together danced before his eyes. 'Her beauty...' Sitting together in the ambulance popped up. 'Her sincerity...' 

Replaying memories from his night with Nobuta led Akira to remember earlier that morning when he followed Shuji and Nobuta to meet their dates. "Shuji said she should say 'Today was fun'... She said that to me when we walked home." He didn't realize it, but Akira stopped in the middle of the hallway. He didn't register the crowds of other students bumping into him. He didn't hear any of the loud voices talking about the new, and completely false, scandal surrounding his Nobuta. The only thing that mattered to Akira at the moment was Nobuta telling him that their afternoon, their night, had been fun to her. 

Looking farther down the hall, Akira noticed the object of his affections taking down flyers. "So...," he mumbled quietly, "was last night a date?" Looking up from the papers she held, Nobuko caught her friend's eye. Giving him her shy, awkward smile, the girl lowered her head once again and shuffled into their classroom. "Yep," said Akira, feeling a grin of his own, "that was a date." 

Owari

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AkiraxNobuta feels! Read and review please!


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